The nickel- plating that you can do at home or in your business is exactly the same process as that done in commercial plating shops. Nickel is a very hard and long lasting plated surface, similar to chrome. It can be left silvery looking as it comes out of the plating bath, or it can be buffed to a high lustre. There are no dangerous chemicals used in the process. Nickel can be plated directly onto steel or non- ferrous metals. If parts are nickel plated first, then copper plated, and finally nickel -plated it provides added corrosion protection. This is not strictly necessary as a lot of nickel plating is done successfully straight onto steel. To plate in nickel the electrolyte must be heated to 50/55 Deg. C.

The kit contains the nickel chemical in powder form to be mixed with water to make up the plating bath electrolyte, nickel anodes, a lab type power supply, wiring, and hanging bars, everything that you need except a plating bath.

To mix the plating electrolyte follow the instructions in the kit book. The chemical is reusable; store it in a plastic container. Pour out whatever amount needed for the job and when the job is completed store in a screw top container or in a covered plating bath. Be sure to mark a chemical container. DO NOT DRINK. A cleaner kit is available. A brightener called Nimac is included in the kit. The best things to use for plating baths are containers from a hardware store. Different sizes for different jobs. To plate using nickel you can use stainless steel, enamelware, ceramic ware, or plastic standing in hot water.

Included in the kit are a Lab. type power unit, aluminium pipes for racks, thermometer, wiring, nickel anodes, and a comprehensive instruction book covering plating, cleaning and preparation of parts.

The chemical crystals that are supplied in your kit are mixed with water to create a certain size electrolyte bath. This will depend on the size of kit you have purchased. ie. if you have purchased a 4 litre kit, your chemical crystals and water mixed together must make a 4 litre bath. The crystals have mass, if you add the crystals to 4 ltrs. of water you will overflow a 4 ltr. container. The easiest way to mix the chemical is to start with half the required bath total amount, dissolve the crystals in that water, and then top the bath up with water until you have the required final amount. To mix 10 ltrs start with 5 ltrs. and so on.

The Nickel chemical should be placed into a container than can be heated to 50 degrees C. 3 Hanging bars are placed on top of the bath. With the power supply plugged in and turned on, connect the negative wire to the middle bar, connect the positive wire to one of the outside bars. This bar is then bridged across to the bar on the other side of the bath.

The Nickel anodes supplied are hung onto the baths on either side if the bath using the stainless steel wire supplied.

The plating work is then hung onto the middle bar using the copper wire supplied. The kit book shows diagrams of how to set up a 3 or 4 bar plating bath.

Adjust the amperage as required, using your kit book as a reference.

The electrical current passes from the anodes to the parts to be plated in the bath and takes with It ions of metal from the anodes. This process will successfully put a smooth coat of Nickel in about 45 mins. There are full instructions in the kit book on how to set up the bath and get started.

1. Power supply, laboratory type to provide DC current to the plating bath
2. Chemical in powder form for you to mix your electrolyte.
3. Brighteners for the type of plating you are intending to do.
4. Nickel Anodes.
5. Thermometer to monitor the bath temperature
6. Pipes to be used as hanging bars for the plating jobs and anodes.
7. Copper wire to be used to suspend your plating jobs in the plating bath.
8. Stainless wire to be used to suspend your anodes in the plating bath.
9. Bridging wire to bridge the 2 anode bars together.
10. Jane Kits instruction manual.